Readjusting Isn't Easy
by kazikamikaze24
Summary: Ash, after losing to Tyson in the Ever Grande Conference, finds himself arguing with Brock and May about why he can never talk about his past to them. When a choice is made, his world is destroyed, and with its destruction is his revival out of his coma, yet this shift in life isn't easy. Can he adjust to reality and its challenges, or will he seek to return to the coma he escaped?
1. Chapter 1

It was never easy to accept a loss, especially when you worked so hard to get to the top, sweating water droplets of hope and crying tears of strain to train your team to win. He wasn't mad at his team, they trained as hard as they could, and their combos were perfect, but it seemed as if no matter what he tried to do, when he was so _close_ to his dream of conquering a league, he was defeated by the oddest of circumstances. For the Ever Grande Conference, the most recent competition he lost in not more than a few hours ago, he lost to Tyson, a fellow trainer who reminded him a lot of himself in many ways, except for one thing.

Tyson's Meowth.

Now, he has seen plenty of Meowth, both wild and trained, but something about that particular Meowth reminded him of the first Meowth he saw, Team Rocket's Meowth, who caused him plenty of trouble since that faithful day in Viridian City. He wouldn't deny that he always found that little Pokemon a unique breed of its kind, seeing as it learned to talk and walk like a human, but-

"Ow!"

"Are you okay Ash?" Ash turned around to see May, one of his two traveling companions ever since he arrived in Hoenn. Ironically, she was the daughter of the Petalburg City gym leader, which meant she was one of the many companions who had a strong connection to league competitions, and joined him on his journey soon after she picked up her starter Pokemon, a Torchic.

"Yea...I guess I didn't drink enough water or something. My head is starting to hurt." May's face changed from worry to calm joy, an expression she wore during most of their journey together, and was about to speak when another voice interrupted her.

"If that is the case..." Ash looked over to his left and saw Brock, a tall, tanned friend of his that was with him ever since his Kanto journey. Well, to be completely technical, he joined him and Misty after Ash defeated him in a gym battle, yet another friend who is connected to the league, but those details didn't matter completely. "Why don't we go to the diner nearby and take a break? That last battle must have taken a lot out of you, considering how over the edge you were." Ash nodded, hoping to focus on the thought of food rather than the headache that randomly spiked.

It was strange...Every time he tried to think of his hometown, Pallet Town, and any sort of memory from his childhood gave him a rather painful headache. It was one of the unspoken reasons he always left home as quickly as possible, for he could never get over the headaches that ran rampant during his stay, as well as the only reason he didn't talk about his time growing up with his mom and Professor Oak. He couldn't believe as to how many people wanted to hear all about his time growing up around the Professor, but he felt even worse when he had to brush them off due to his headaches.

_'It isn't as if I can do anything about these headaches.'_ Ash thought to himself as the trio walked into the random diner Brock suggested and sat at a booth near the righthand side of the building. Ash and Brock sat on one side of the booth, leaving May to her lonesome on the other side, not that she seemed to mind the open space at all, and waited for their waitress to arrive. Ash, not enjoying the silence between them, looked around the room until he noticed the painting of a smirking Meowth that held several gems of different value and colors in its paws. Despite his annoyance at Tyson's Meowth, he couldn't help but to chuckle at the painting.

"Whats up Ash?" His two friends asked him. Though he felt the headache starting up again, he couldn't help but want to talk about what he remembered. It was going to, at least to him, be funny to see Brock's expression.

"Hey Brock."

"Yea?"

"Remember the Black Arachnid tale we heard last year in Catallia City?" Brock gave him a humored look before nodding. He, being Brock and all, most likely recalled more about the Officer Jennies in that town than anything else.

"Ahhh...Yea, I remember that town." Case and point. Brock normally responds quite fast, so him taking a moment...Why was he thinking about Officer Jennies at a time like this?

"Well the Black Arachnid is actually my great-grandfather." The only person who looked surprised was May, who dropped the menu in the process and looked at him with...fear? Brock, on the other hand, gave him a glare the likes he never seen his friend use before. Should he have kept that to himself?

"When...when did you find that out?" Brock asked. Ash shrugged and pointed at his head to make a point.

"I've known that since I was about six. I was looking through some of my parent's stuff in the attic, and I found his mask and journal in a hidden box. It was so-"

"So I think I'll get the parfait!" May shouted rather rudely, causing Ash to look at her with a raised eyebrow. May was normally more collected than this, so why was she acting so odd today? Ash decided the best action was to nod at her decision.

"Thats nice May. Now, as I was saying, when my mom found me upstairs looking through the box, he pulled me to the side and asked me what I had gone through. I told her-"

"Well Ash," Brock interrupted, "have you decided what you would want to eat off the menu?"

_'Really?'_ Ash thought to himself in annoyance. Now HE was going to say something while he was talking? With a sigh, Ash glanced at the menu before picking something.

"I'll take a burger with fries. Now, when I told her I read the first few pages of his journal, she told me that he was the reason that my grandparents were able to live in the Kanto region. Back then, it wasn't cheap getting past Mt. Silver-"

"Ash!" Brock and May shouted, causing him to stand and slam his hands on the table.

"What?!" His answer seemed to shock the two, for the recoiled and glanced away from him. Oh _now_ they were going to let him speak huh? "Why is it that every time I try to talk about my past _one_ of you are trying to interrupt to keep me from speaking? Huh? Huh!" At this point May was starting to tear up, which made Ash feel bad about shouting, yet it was Brock's glare that made him even more angry. What reason did he have to glare at him huh?

"We don't care about your lame, most likely fake story of your thief of a great-grandfather Ash. Now sit down and lets talk about what you plan to do from here huh? That is something I'd rather talk about!"

"No!" Ash turned to Brock with his eyes set on his friend. This must have disturbed Brock, for he looked away in the opposing direction. "I DO care about my great-grandfather, for it was due to him that I tried to honestly be the best rule abiding citizen of every region, especially when it came to not having an unfair advantage with taking my trained team to other regions!"

Unknowingly to Ash, the painting of the Meowth began to glow, triggering the building to shake very faintly. May noticed this; however, and tried to stand to leave the building.

"It was because of that history that helped me decide to become a Pokemon Master too! They're seen as the ultimate symbols of good people. Heroes! The symbol and public icon of hope, justice, and righteousness that helped inspire people to become better themselves! It was because of knowing that bit of my family tree that I didn't like Meowths for the longest time, which was why I didn't like Meowth, nor do I care for plenty of the feline Pokemon that I could have caught along the way!"

This shaking grew to even further intense levels, making the other people within the cafe scream as they ran out of the building. May wanted to leave. No, she _needed_ to leave, yet something seemed to keep her pinned to her spot at the booth, furthering the tears that had nothing to keep them from falling. Brock looked as if he wanted to punch Ash, yet did nothing but listen to what he was saying.

"Yet now, after losing to another Meowth for some stupid reason...I need to let it go! I need to accept that not only are Meowths aren't a bad species of Pokemon, but to accept that I am my own person, and not a shadow of my great grandfather's fame and history. That is the reality I need to accept, and I'm prepared to do just that!"

"No!" May screamed out as she intensely shook her head. "You can't! You just **CAN'T**!"

"I need to grow past my fears of growing up to be anything like him too! I need to accept that there are unknowns I'll be faced with that will make me question myself, yet that isn't frightening at all. It is a fact of life that I didn't want to accept relations to my history, or to finding out the kind of person I really am!"

"Ash!" For a moment, Ash broke away from his thoughts and looked down to see the fury upon Brock's face. Such anger didn't look right at all, yet something about that look...Seemed to be the truth that Ash saw in Brock all the time. "Shut up and SIT BACK DOWN!"

"I will NOT shut up!" The floor of the cafe suddenly cracked into a horrid web that threatened to break away with the slightest of pressure. May seemed to shake in utter terror as Brock tightened his fists in rage. If Brock was going to do something, he would have already do it at this point. "I am Ash Ketchum, and I don't need to limit myself any longer!" Ash paused, glancing at the two of his friends who now said nothing, yet looked at him with such emotions he had no understanding of.

That didn't stop him from lifting his foot to leave the booth.

"If you take another step Ash, you'll never see us again!" May desperately shouted, making him pause mid-step and glanced at her. She had a small, joyful smile that was smeared with the tears she cried moments ago, though why such a reaction he couldn't understand. "Please Ash...Just sit back down and lets talk things out, okay?" He didn't know for what reason he paused at May's words, nor did he realize that he was about to turn back into the booth; however, when he glanced over to the Meowth painting that now looked directly at him, he knew that if he sat back down, then everything he said would have been for nothing.

He would never change.

He would always rely on others to keep him going, rather than move on his own two feet.

His responsibilities would always be done by his friends, yet he would never learn what he had to do to survive or raise his Pokemon on his own.

He...needed to move on with his life, and no longer keep himself weak with his self-restrictions.

"I'm sorry May." He looked away from her, keeping his eyes closed and did all he could to mute the choked sobs that seemed to break his heart with each of her breaths. She didn't realize how much this hurt him too, but it had to be done. "But I'm done not being all that I can be!" With that, he took the step that broke the cafe. No...

The step that broke the world!

Ash could suddenly see the café from a third person's perspective, allowing him to witness it being torn into pieces by an invisible force. The walls were being peeled like the skin of an apple as the floor dropped into the blank, lifeless abyss below. The windows shattered into tiny fragments of light that floated high above him, mixing with the sun that grew darker with each fragment that ascended. The Kanto and Johto region suddenly became engulfed by a series of tidal waves that took entire cities into the watery depths to never be seen.

He could feel the agony of millions of people and Pokemon alike crying, pleading, becoming enraged at the world for it rejecting their very presence, and yet could do nothing but be taken in by the tide of the abyss. Hoenn was the region that currently had the most physical destruction being done to it, as Kyogre and Groudon ripped the land as casualties for their battle, never caring for neither the people or their fellow Pokemon who were killed with each attack by the Legendary Pokemon. Amongst these new, unexplored emotions that ran amok through Ash with each passing fragment, his sight fell upon Brock and May, who both looked up at him with a different expression upon their faces.

May seemed to be partly happy with herself, despite all the destruction that roamed around her. The smile on her face looked lovely with her open eyes, yet that changed as she was encased in a blinding light that made it impossible for him to focus on her. When he did find himself able to see again, she was no longer there, though her bandana remained long enough for him to see it with the whisper of "Thank You" before it too was gone.

The look of pure demonized anger upon Brock's face made Ash question what he truly saw in him in the first place. He could see the jealousy in the man's eyes as black tendrils started to latch to him, draining the colors off of him and his clothing with each tendril. When there was no longer color to drain, his flesh had been removed, revealing the full glare of a cruel, uncaring, selfish person who only wanted whatever he desired; however, the heat that pulsed off the skeleton that remained scared Ash.

_"I hope the world you awake to...**is a nightmare!**"_ What remained of Brock disappeared in a fiery blaze of jealousy and pure madness, which acted as the final trigger for what was left of the world Ash loved to disappear in a flash of light, never to be seen again.

When Ash found himself able to see past the blinding light, he realized that he was in a white room that reminded him of a rental room in a Pokemon Center. Was he in here due to some debris falling on him as he escaped the building? The sound of broken glass caught his attention, and made him turn to see his mom and Misty sitting by the bed he was in, yet he noticed that he had an IV in his arm. Was he hurt that badly that he needed more than some bed rest to heal him, and what were with all of the books that were beside Misty? She wasn't much of a reader when they travelled together, and, now that he was looking at her, she looked younger than he remembered seeing her. Tired too...

_'Speaking of tired, mom looks tired too.'_ Ash realized for a moment that maybe the two ran over to the Pokemon Center to check up on his recovery, but he didn't remember Misty being in the stands, which would have meant that she would have had to get there by Pokemon or plane. He... "Ow!"

"Relax Ash!" His mom shot up from her chair and cradled his head to her chest. Her shirt was partially wet, though his thoughts were interrupted by something wet pelting the top of his head. "Oh Ash...You have no idea how happy I am to see your beautiful eyes again...I love you so much Ashy poo!"

"Ugh, MOM! Don't call me that! I'm not four years old anymore!" He felt his mouth become dry and began to cough, instantly pulling away to put his hand over his mouth. He heard his mom shout at Misty to pour for him a glass of water, and suddenly found a glass being held in front of him. He didn't know why, but as soon as he saw the glass in front of him, he felt as if his entire body was a dried husk of a mummy, and drank the water in one gulp.

"Not so fast Ash! You'll-

"Ack! Ack!"

"Choke..." When he was able to calm his choking and turned to Misty, he noticed that Misty was crying with a smile on her face that the word happy just couldn't cover. She looked as if she hadn't seen him in a long time...

"Hello Ash." Startled, he turned to see a doctor with short brown hair and wore a white lab coat. The man stared at him rather intensely before looking down at the chart he was holding. With a clink of the pen, the man pressed it against the paper as he began to talk. "Can you tell me as to what day it is?"

"Its June twentieth. The day after the Ever Grande Conference." The doctor shook his head, which worried Ash the moment he saw that. Was he in the hospital for a few days? Did Brock, May, and Max leave without him?

"No Ash. It's the seventh day of June, of the year 2000. You're in the Viridian City hospital. Do you know as to why you're here?" No. _No._ That couldn't be right! There was no WAY that it was the second day of June! He traveled for nearly two years with Misty and Brock, as well as a year with May and Max! Surely Misty would have corrected this man right?

And yet, when he turned to her, he noticed that she looked at him with a sadness he never saw her show to him before. The hand that partially covered her mouth told him that he shocked her, yet that shouldn't be right. Unless...

Unless...

_'No, I need to think.'_ Ash looked down with his hands clutching the covers. He needed to remember what happened on the seventh day of June. If he was right, then he was either traveling through the Viridian Forest still, or he was just entering Pewter for the first time; however, something about that felt wrong. As if he should think further back by a week.

A week.

It was a week ago that he got Pikachu!

"Pikachu!" He shouted, widening his eyes in realization that he had not seen his starter Pokemon at all. How could he not notice the lack of his best friend? The presence he had always brought his mood up, so the lack of it was rather unusual to feel for the first time in years. "Where is Pikachu?!"

"He is fine Ash!" Both the doctor and his mother replied, causing him to pause with a deep breath finding its way into his body. He needed to calm down and listen. Listening would help him out to help him what was wrong with what was happening in front of him. Did he somehow travel back in time?

"Your Pikachu is currently being held in its Pokeball at the Pokemon Center in the city."

"But Pikachu doesn't like being in its Pokeball at all! He hates it!" The doctor nodded as he wrote something on his chart before looking up again.

"Very good. Do you remember what happened to cause Pikachu to be in the Pokemon Center?" The man used Pikachu for the question, plus with the day he was put in the hospital meant that the two were connected. But he never went to a hospital just as injured as Pikachu, but there was that one time on the first...day of...his journey.

"The big Thunderbolt." Ash whispered. That day was very stressful for him for several reasons. He wasn't sure if Pikachu was going to survive through the night, and not to mention Officer Jenny questioning him as soon as he came within her sights. He wasn't sure if the Spearow were going to come after him either, and, no. Pikachu was being healed at this very moment, so he was fine! He didn't have to worry about Pikachu at the moment.

"Yes Ash." Misty must have been the only one to hear him, for he, his mom, and the doctor turned to her. She nodded as she looked down at her knees. "Your Pikachu made an overpowered Thunderbolt that knocked not only the Spearow out, but you and itself as well. It-it, God Ash, you were **unconscious** for nearly a week!" At this point, Misty was doing all that she could to hold back the tears, yet this didn't stop Ash from widening his eyes in a mixture of feelings at what he was just told. Shock for sure, and slight amazement at Pikachu's range of attack striking him as well, yet to know that he was asleep for just about a week was frightening.

It, if what the sense of dread and despair he felt was the truth, meant that EVERYTHING he went through for the past three years with Misty, Brock, Gary, May, Max, and all of the rivals he met along the way were nothing but figments of his imagination. He never caught all of the Pokemon that he did, nor did those truly special moments of evolution ever happen, which meant that everything he ever accomplished, such as winning the Orange Leagues, or all of the times he ranked in the official league tournaments, never meant anything at all. His entire life for the past three years.

Was.

A.

**Fantasy.**

"Ash?" He didn't know whose voice that was calling out to him. He glanced around and saw that his mom, Misty, and the doctor were giving him worrying looks of concern, yet he also saw THEM standing behind them. He saw THEM frowning at him, staring right into his soul with several of them, Pokemon and human alike, crying tears of sorrow for being forgotten and shunned for what was reality. He didn't mean to kill them all. Really, he didn't! He suddenly saw **_him_** looking at him from the back of the group, laughing at him with a wicked joy at what happened this moment. This wasn't real! They weren't real!

But did that mean that the people who helped him wake up were with them? Were they punishing him for ending a world he didn't mean to? No, in truth, that was completely wrong. Deep down inside he knew that he meant to kill the fantasy. It took him three years of his journey, yet he accomplished waking up a week later; however, those looks...Could he live with those faces looking at him whenever he slept?

"Yea?" He slowly replied with another deep breath. He needed to ignore the crowd standing behind them for now. They no longer mattered to him, as they didn't truly exist in reality. All that mattered was that he was now safe in the real world with his mom, Pikachu, and Misty by his side.

That is, if Misty will join him when he wants to leave Viridian City.

"So...I've been dreaming for a week?"

"To put it in simple terms," The doctor began with a short nod of his head, "yes. You've been in a coma for six days Ash, and during those six days you were fighting the coma quite a few times. We thought that we lost you a few times to be honest, and we weren't sure how many attacks your body could handle. Your mom and Misty here were very helpful to your recovery though, for you would mumble every now again as they talked to you about Pokemon and various facts and the history of different regions. Did you happen to see any of this influence during your dream?"

At this, Ash truly didn't know how to respond. He was having so much trouble to fully accept that, in a span of nearly a week, lived out three YEARS of traveling, growing up, and doing so many other things that would take days upon days to describe! The things he saw, did, touched, felt, and remembered wouldn't be useful in this world, so why should he try to keep on remembering them?

And yet he couldn't make himself forget. He knew that he could never forget the day he finally filled his team up to six Pokemon, or the time he battled Misty for the Cascade Badge. The way May looked up to him to help her learn the basics of being a Pokemon Trainer, along with watching her mature and grow up with her team of Pokemon during his time in Hoenn. There were so many moments, both small and immensely important, that he knew that he could never truly forget due to several reasons. Some of those reasons being good memories, while others...

Brock's final words made him shiver for a moment. He wasn't surprised that Brock, the imaginary one he created, figured out that the world they were living in was nothing more than a dream. Brock was always smart like that after all.

"I don't want to talk about it... If that is okay with you doc." The man's face scrunched up at that, but he nodded and wrote something before looking at his mother.

"I'll leave you three alone for now so I can look through some files and see if there is something else I need to look over." He turned back to Ash with a smile on his face. For some reason, the smile didn't make Ash feel better about his situation. "Welcome back to the world of the living Ash. If everything goes well, you'll be able to leave in two or three days." The doctor left after that, leaving him with his mom and Misty by his side. He didn't know what to say right off the bat, but he turned towards the books and couldn't help but to chuckle about what he saw.

"So you were reading to me right?" He saw Misty and his mom nod at the question, though they suddenly looked at the books as if they were a stain they wanted to hide. Considering all of the books they had over there, he doubted that they would be able to hide them very well.

"Your mom came up with the idea as soon as she heard the doctor say that sometimes talking to the patient about things they would be familiar with could help speed up the process. Your mom dashed straight out of the hospital with the look of determination on her face, and returned about ten minutes later with all of these books in hand, sat right next to you, and began reading about each of the cities and landmarks of Kanto." Misty spoke up, looking at him with a small smile on her face. Ash could only nod and waited to hear more from either of them. His mom seemed to catch the hint, for she turned to Misty and winked at her.

"And your cute little friend here told you all about her gym leader friends, as well as some of the other gym leaders she met during her childhood too!" Misty's face became bright red, and at one point in time Ash would have looked the same, yet he felt like doing something a bit different than just be shocked and blushing away. He wanted to do the shocking for a change.

"Well that would explain why a cute girl appeared in my dream and took me all over the Kanto and Johto region." The blush Misty had became a dark cherry red explosion of embarrassment, which made him laugh at her reaction. She looked just as cute with a blush on her face in real life as he imagined in his dream. His mom, on the other hand, looked at him with a concerned, yet surprised expression on her face that made him realize that he partially exposed himself to them.

"You...were able to hear us while you slept?"

"I don't really want to talk about it to be honest mom." When he saw the saddened look on her face, Ash knew he couldn't keep what he dreamt hidden forever. He would tell her, just not right now. He couldn't believe that he just woke up from a coma to be honest.

To be honest, there was still a part of him that didn't believe that he woke up from a coma. That this place he was in was nothing but a dream to him and he would find himself waking up back in Hoenn within moments. He had to do something to make sure that he was actually awake. That he was free from the clutches of the coma that fought to keep him asleep for so long...

"But I'll tell you about it soon mom. I just need to..." Ash paused to find the right words to say. It wasn't as if he was talking about what kind of Pidgey he was looking at after all. "...Get use to the fact that I was asleep for nearly a week. Actually, that reminds me of something." He turned to Misty at this point, who looked at him with a light blush on her face. "You said something about training to become a Water type Pokemon Master, right?"

"Yea, that's right!" The look of shock and awe aside, Ash knew what he could ask of her that would help him realize if he was still in the coma or not. If she told him what he expected, then he would know that he...No! He needed to think positive!

"So what can you tell me about Gyarados?" She gave him a curious, if not bewildered look for the question he asked, but proceeded to tap her chin in thought.

"Well..." She began, unknowingly holding him over the edge with his desire to know about the Pokemon. He just had to know what she knew about it! "Gyarados is a rather large Pokemon, normally reaching around twenty-one feet in terms of height. They're commonly known as the Atrocious Pokemon due to how often they enter a fit of rage and thrash about in rivers, lakes, and near the shore of cities and towns alike."

"And they know the move Hyper Beam right?" Ash interrupted, which normally annoyed Misty. Instead, he saw her smile at him and gave him a nod of approval. That was certainly different.

"Yes. It is true that they naturally learn Hyper Beam, but only the high leveled members of the breed ever get that far. They normally just hit you with a Tackle or use their tail to make some waves, if they're in water of course!" That was certainly different to hear. If he remembered correctly, just about every Gyarados he came across to battle or see in a battle in his coma used Hyper Beam just about repeatedly, especially with the ones that recently evolved from a Magikarp! Since Misty knows her facts about Water Pokemon, then he knew that she wasn't wrong about the Gyarados.

But what if there were exceptions to this rule?

"So no wild Gyarados could learn Hyper Beam?"

"In most circumstances no, but scientists and people like Professor Oak tell us that some Pokemon just naturally learn the move due to factors we don't understand yet. We grade the strength of a Pokemon by leveling them Ash, yet who knows how Pokemon judge power and bestow learning attacks? We do them at times with TM and HMs, yet they could hold little classes on how to use Double Team or Sand Attack, for example, to make the other wild Pokemon harder for us to catch." Ash nodded, but said nothing as he allowed what he learned to sink in. So no wild Gyarados could learn Hyper Beam unless it was insanely high leveled, which made sense for the most part, except for the plenty of Gyarados he saw while he was asleep. Was it possible that he only heard parts of what Misty and his mom told him while he slept, and based Pokemon based on the bits and pieces of information he learned that way?

"Do you think I could get Pikachu and its Pokeball back soon?" Ash asked without thinking his comment through. He knew what he wanted to do, and he had a feeling it would keep him in the hospital longer than he would like once he did it later; however, he had to do it. He had to make sure that he was truly awake! "It feels weird to be awake without Pikachu by my side." Ash's mom glanced at him with a look of concern before she smiled and the look was replaced with happiness.

"I'll see what I can do honey. Relax and I'll be back in a bit." As soon as his mom left the room, Misty looked at him with a stern look that she always used during their travels together. It was the look that told him that she wanted to ask him something, but didn't know of a nice way to ask him. With a sigh, he turned to face her a little better.

"So is there anything you'd want to ask me Misty?" His question snapped her out of her thoughts, as well as made her stumble a bit in her chair.

"Why are you curious about Gyarados all of a sudden Ash?" While he was trying to think of something to help cover his curiosity, Misty took the action of waving her hands in front of her in a wild way, which made him chuckle. This made her puff her cheeks for a moment before she turned to the side. "Not that I don't think that they're NOT interesting or anything! I just figured that you would have asked something like what happened to the Spearow, or about how to avoid having Pikachu battle during a storm?"

"Well," Ash began, allowing for what Misty told him to become part of the lie he thought of, "I am curious about those too, except the Gyarados played a bit of a role in my dreams." No, it didn't have much of a role, now that he thought of it, but it would be a nice excuse, especially with the bit of truth he was about to reveal. "Before you fished me out of the river, I jumped into it not too far upstream from you, and that was due to the Spearow following me. I narrowly avoided being seen by a Gyarados that was in that river-"

"There was a Gyarados in that river!"

"In my dream there were quite the bit of Gyarados references, so I wanted to make sure that I knew what a Gyarados could actually do, rather than let what happened in my dream take control of me." Though he was happy to see the understanding look Misty gave him, Ash felt a little horrible for lying to her despite everything she and his mom did for him. Hopefully soon he would be able to do what he needed to do, or else he would have to take Misty with him, and she would do more distracting than helping him, especially if she had nothing but Water Pokemon.

They would be nothing more than distractions.

The sound of the door being opened made him and Misty turn towards it, but Ash lost all sense of self when he saw Pikachu, fat and fully healed like he first saw him in Professor Oak's lab, looking at him with a happy expression of its own. He didn't care about the tears that fell from his eye without restraint, nor did he feel any pain from suddenly leaning forward with his arms stretched out to catch his Pokemon with his arms.

"Pikachu!"

"Pika-pi!" The warmth that flew through Ash as Pikachu pressed into his chest filled a void he felt ever since he awoke from his coma. There wasn't much he needed to think at that moment, other than that he was happy to have Pikachu by his side, and that with him back, he could now make sure he was awake once and for all.

All he needed to do was wait for the night to come.


	2. Chapter 2

The night couldn't have came any slower for Ash Ketchum, ten-year old son of Delia Ketchum who found himself waking up from a coma earlier in the day. He couldn't stop thinking of everything he dreamed of in the coma, as most of its creation was the handiwork of his mom and Misty telling him so many things about the world and of new Pokemon for him to discover in his dream, though he would never tell them this truth. Instead, he asked the two as to what he had missed during his six-day coma, and was told quite the bit of news.

Route 1 was currently being investigated for any other violent Spearow that remained in the area so they could be relocated into the hands of Trainers, both newly instated and veteran. Though this meant that it would be harder for local Trainers between Pallet Town and Viridian City to actually hunt for Pokemon, it also meant that they would be safer from a future horde battle. It did make Ash feel guilty though, since he was the sole reason the Spearow attacked him as a horde, even if he didn't actually intend to get a flock's attention.

Professor Oak came around with his mom during the first two days, yet left to talk with one of the investigators over the violent Pokemon attack. Some were trying to blame the Professor for the attack and overpopulation of Spearow, and tried to Professor Oak give him an extra Pokemon a repayment for purposely giving him a "newly-caught" Pokemon. To be honest, Ash didn't really want a Pokemon from the Professor unless he actually wanted to give him one, yet the matter was out of his hands until he could talk to the Professor and tell him how he felt.

Surprisingly, Gary stopped by to check on his condition too! Apparently, from what his mom and Misty were able to tell him, Gary didn't want to leave the hospital until he woke up, yet his fangirls were making things difficult for his rival to stay for longer than an hour or two. So he left with the parting words for him to get up so he could have an honorable lead in terms of training his Pokemon, rather than having a large gap in terms of power.

Before he heard that, he was unsure if he was going to go through with his test to see if he was still sleeping or not. He already prepared to simply sleep the night away with a very messy room with a note that said leave the mess alone, and if a nurse came in to tidy up, then it would be reality since he would have the room as messy as he would want in a dream. It was much safer than doing what he thought to do, which was why he highly considered doing it, until he heard about Gary's visit of course. Now he _had_ to do it! If he didn't do the original test, then it showed that, even if this was reality, that he wouldn't be able to take on Gary due to him never taking a risk on his own.

Which was why now, at midnight when the hospital was officially closed to everyone except for the small group of janitors and the few nurses that remained, he stood up and stretched his legs. If it wasn't for him getting a bit of physical therapy done earlier that day, then he wouldn't have been able to get used to his footing and regained his sense of balance, though something in the back of his head told him that it was all the experiences of being electrocuted, frozen, burnt alive, and drowned that made him subconsciously regain his footing so quickly. This was **not** the time to be thinking of hidden thoughts that shouldn't have been brought to the surface!

_'Just take a breath and hurry up. They'll start to notice that I'm aren't connected to the system within five minutes of when I pull myself from the wires.'_ With a shake of his head, he got dressed in some sweatpants and a black extra large t-shirt that was provided by the hospital as clothes he could leep in for the night before he nudged Pikachu. When he saw that Pikachu was looking up at him, he smiled and rubbed his friend's back. "Hey buddy. Do you want to go have a little adventure?" Pikachu sat itself up on the bed with a curious look on his face. One that he knew very well that meant that he had his attention.

"Cha?"

"Well, you might not remember because we were running from the Spearow," Pikachu nodded with a slight shiver from its body, "but I saw this amazing Pokemon in the river and want to see if we can see it again and, if possible catch it!" One thing he realized earlier was that, and this was thanks to Misty handing him back his stuff, that she was holding on to his Pokedex and the five, no, four Pokeballs that he had left to catch a Pokemon with. He was afraid that he was gonna have to go to the Pokemart this late at night to buy some Pokeballs with the Pokedex, which would leave a trail for them to find him by.

He was able to get Misty to help him get use to using the Pokedex right away, and used it to scan Pikachu earlier to see what Pikachu knew, as well as how strong it was. At the moment, it is a Level 8 Pokemon that knows the moves Thundershock, Growl, Tail Whip, and Thunder Wave, as well as has an ability known as Static. Upon further reading, it was, sadly, a basic ability that the breed shared, yet made it a key tactic for battle since it would paralyze any Pokemon that come into contact with it during battle. With what he knew with the help of the Pokedex, he had a feeling that he knew everything he needed to go through with this crazy plan of his.

"So buddy, are you up for a challenge?" Pikachu nodded with a few sparks coming from its cheeks.

"Pi-ka-chu!" Ash smiled and wrapped Pikachu in his jacket, which was brought in with his Pokedex and Pokeballs, and looked down at Pikachu. "This is to keep you warm as we leave the building, okay?" With a nod from his starter Pokemon, he plucked the IV drip and the other wires off him before opening the door, softly closed it, and hurried over to the elevator. What was only two minutes felt like ten for him, which made the paranoia he initially worried about grow by the second until he saw the elevator door open without anyone inside. In a blink of an eye the elevator was already closing with him inside it, with his target destination being the first floor, and prepared himself to run as soon as the door opened if someone was waiting for him.

When he saw that, as the elevator stopped on the main floor and opened to reveal no one except for an empty desk and one of the side doors out of the hospital, he poked his head out and glanced both ways before hurrying out the door, sighing as he felt the cool night breeze caress his face as he made his first steps outside of the hospital.

Unfortunately, due to him being so focused on getting out of the hospital, he didn't notice that the door he left through was an emergency door, which triggered the Fire Alarm instantly. A mutter of a curse left his mouth as he ran to the left, as he saw the area being covered in a dense amount of forest and tall grass that would make anyone who follow him unable to keep up for quite some time. He didn't know how long it would take for him to reach the gates of Viridian City, but he did know that, as soon as he saw those gates, that he would instantly make a move to get towards the area he needed to.

_'Since Viridian City is north of Pallet Town, that means that I need to go southwest in order to find the river with the waterfall and, hopefully, I can get the attention of that Gyarados without having to have Pikachu shock the entire stream.'_ With a nod to himself, and a quick check-up on Pikachu, who looked up at him with a playful look, continued running without hesitation.

* * *

"He WHAT?!" Was the sound that Misty found herself waking up to. She looked over to the clock in the hotel room and saw that it was 2:10 in the morning, which meant something was wrong. As her eyes focused in the dark room, she looked back at Delia and saw that she was talking to an Officer Jenny who seemed rather serious about something.

"I'm sorry mam, but he left two hours ago through an fire exit, and we haven't been able to find him so far." Misty's eyes widened at the news. There was only one male that Delia would be caring for at this point, and that was Ash! So if he left the hospital, then did that mean that he was trying to run away from further healing, or to avoid being asked questions about what he dreamed?

"Do you know where he could have gone?" She asked, hoping to add something to the conversation. The Officer Jenny shook her head before closing her eyes with a calm expression. Was there something that confused her?

"He ran straight for the right of the hospital, yet there is nothing going out that way except for thick forests and the Diglett Cave, but we concluded he wouldn't go in there unless dire for him to escape a Pokemon. His Pikachu would be worthless in an enviroment with nothing but Ground Pokemon. If he had any of the three traditional starters, then we would have searched it." Misty, who had handed Ash his Pokedex earlier in the day and helped him understand how it functioned, knew that what the Officer Jenny said was the truth. Other than Thundershock and Thunder Wave, the other two attacks it knew wouldn't be of any use against a Ground type. Heck, not even its main attack would do anything!

If Ash did go in there, then he would have to rely on Pikachu getting hit physically by the Diglett so its Static ability could come into effect; however, that was a dangerous tactic due to the damage Pikachu would be taking each hit. If Ash caught a Pokemon before going in like, for example, a Pidgey or, if he was desperate, a Spearow, then he might have a chance using them as long as he only used Thunder Wave against them Flying types to keep them fully healthy. Otherwise, he would have to go through Route 22 to see if he could find an elusive Mankey, yet he went the other way...

"What if Ash went through the right of the forest as a distraction?" Misty looked around for a pen and one of the wrappers from a burger she ate earlier, which she blushed at the fact that she left it behind her pillow, and placed the unfolded wrapper on the dresser. She quickly drew a large rectangle before drawing a large border to surround the rectangle, and motioned for the two to come closer. "Think of it from Ash's perspective. He didn't run right, but LEFT, and ran south."

"So you're saying he could have went back to Pallet Town?" Misty felt something form in her stomach as she nodded. The Officer Jenny and Delia thanked her before leaving the room, most likely to inform of the other officers of the potential lead and to explore it. When she was sure that they were gone from the floor, she stood and quickly got dressed with the urge she had guiding her choice would lead her to him, for if it didn't then she would feel horrible for lying to his mom.

"I'm coming Ash...Don't die on me." With Pokeballs, her Pokemon, and small bag of provisions by her side, she left the room, hoping that he would be there when she arrived.

* * *

Ash was quite happy to have brought his Pokedex for his task, for he was able to scan some Pokemon for his Pokedex, such as Hoothoot and the foreign Taillow, as well as the common Pidgey, before having Pikachu use Thundershock to knock them unconscious for some practice. Its aim was certainly nothing like its coma counterpart, but he knew that he had to stop comparing events and people in reality with those from his coma, as it wasn't ever going to come true. He did like the fact that Pikachu was now at level nine thanks to all of the practice it was doing to Pokemon its attack was super effective against, which also made his the yellow mouse quite happy.

"Pika!" A small lightning bolt struck into the back of a tired Pidgey that woke up from the commotion that he and Pikachu were making along their path. A small ping from his Pokedex told him that Pikachu finally reached level ten, and that most of his stats had improved by a few points, though the technical information never mattered much to him. Instead, he focused more on how energized Pikachu was, and he was happy to see that his friend barely looked tired, let alone drained as some Pokemon would have been at this point if he had any other type.

"That was great Pikachu!" Ash whispered with a big grin on his face as he bent down to hand him a bit of Pokefood he brought with him. Pikachu, who quickly took the offering and ate it, happily made a noise before shooting past some bushes that were ahead of them. Not wanting to lose his best friend of a starter, Ash hurried to catch up to the little 'Mon through the bushes, and found himself widening his eyes at the sight of the waterfall that looked much more beautiful than it did nearly a week ago.

_'Then again,'_ Ash realized as he watched Pikachu glance at some of the swimming Magikarp that tried to jump over the waterfall, _'I was running from a dangerous flock of Spearow at the time.'_ He noticed some Poliwag and some Shellder and Tentacool thanks to the water being crystal clear with the moonlight reflecting off it. He felt the area shift into a bright, yet faded copy and watched himself jumping down to the lower part of the waterfall, and recalled how he swam past not only a Magikarp, but the test target.

It took some time, but they were able to climb down the rocks towards the shore of the river below them, though Ash found himself to be a bit jealous when Pikachu decided to leap down the rest of the way off rocks, leaving Ash to take it slow and careful. By the time he reached the ground, Pikachu stuck its tongue out at him, earning the Pokemon a chuckle and its cheeks being pinched before Ash pulled away and took off his jacket, which held his Pokedex in it, and hooked it on a nearby tree branch. Since Pokeballs were water proof, he didn't have to worry about the Pokeballs he had being ruined, which would have made his goal a bit more impossible without having to go back to Viridian City to load up on them.

"Pikachu, I need you to hide up in the tree where my jacket is." Pikachu gave him an odd look that spoke of its confusion. Ash used his left hand to point at the river, which caused the Pokemon to turn with the gesture before looking back at him. "Remember back at the hospital when I told you that I wanted us to catch this amazing Pokemon?"

"Pika-pi!" Pikachu nodded with a happy grin.

"Well this Pokemon is called a Gyarados-"

"PIKA!" Even in the real world, Pokemon, wild and domesticated, knew of the breed known as Gyarados. Ash had a feeling that Pikachu would be fearful of trying to help him now, but this was part of the plan he created earlier, as he would be a bad Pokemon Trainer if he didn't take into account how his Pokemon would feel in a situation. With a sigh, he looked at his Pokemon straight into its eyes, hoping that Pikachu could see how determined he was to go through with this.

"I know what you're thinking. Gyarados is much taller, bigger, and stronger than you, except that you're nearly half as strong as it is. You're faster than it, especially with your size Pikachu, and you're an Electric type Pokemon. Do you know what that means?" When he saw Pikachu shake its head, he grinned and pointed at its electric sacs. "It means that, since Gyarados is a Water-Flying type, that it won't just take twice the pain from your Thundershock, but four times the amount! You could very well take out Gyarados in a few attacks if you charge them long enough buddy!"

"Pikachu! Pika-pi?" With its paws on its own cheeks, Ash chuckled before standing up straight and pointed up at the trees. He picked the tree where he hung his jacket for more than the convenient branch, but because its upper branches were the longest of the trees surrounding it. That in itself made it the perfect place for Pikachu to avoid a Hyper Beam by moving to the other side of the tree, or into a completely new tree altogether if necessary.

"If you believe that you can't get your Thundershock to reach the Gyarados when it is above water, then jump down and release it as you're coming down. What will happen is that the Thundershock will travel to more parts of its body, causing it to pause longer while trying to get used to the expansion of pain. As soon as you reach the ground, start charging another Thundershock while heading back up the tree where my jacket is, but jump to a different tree so Gyarados doesn't think you're in the same one."

The determined look in his eyes were now mirrored in Pikachu's own, making Ash's adrenaline pump at the thought of a big battle. He knew he shouldn't think of his false life, yet he couldn't stop the flow of experience he had from all of those battles came rushing back into his soul standing tall and ready to get reviewed the moment he needed inspiration. He loved to battle just as much as he loved befriending new Pokemon and catching those who wanted to grow under his care, which he hoped would help him be able to help him care for Gyarados when it became his.

As long as they survived this encounter that is.

"Do you think you can do that Pikachu?" Pikachu didn't hesitate with its nodding, producing a small dance of sparks upon its cheeks before it raced up the tree with fast jumps only a wild Pokemon could perform. When he was sure that Pikachu was safely in the upper branches, he took off his hat and jumped into the river, briefly closing his eyes to protect them from the sudden impact of water. When he found that he was able to open them, he found himself amazed at the sight of the Goldeen and Magikarp swimming in schools, though there were a few Pokemon who decided to stay away from the others, such as a Qwilfish and a small group of Remoraid, which surprised him since they were Johto-specific Pokemon.

Then again, he wasn't a researcher or a marine Pokemon specialist, so he didn't really have much of a say to where Pokemon should stay. Though he wanted to just admire the Pokemon around him, he knew that he couldn't hold his breath for long, and began swimming around the river in hopes of spotting the Gyarados. He went up for air a few minutes later when he felt himself questioning his ability to hold his breath, and went back down after a quick breath of air. The aquatic Pokemon kept following him as he swam back and forth, earning him the sight of a few happy Pokemon swimming around him like a Growlithe circling around its Trainer, yet none of this happened to help him find the Gyarados he wanted.

Was it possible that it simply went downstream and went to the ocean to have more resources to thrive on? It was entirely a possibility, though Ash wasn't going to give up on this test of his so easily. He found out that he could stay underwater for about eight minutes before he had to resort to returning to the surface, which helped him plan for which spots he needed to target swimming to. It was the twelfth dive that he began to question the possibility of swimming further down the river, only to suddenly find himself being consumed by a large air bubble that, for a split second, allowed him to look down and see a cavern he wouldn't have noticed had it not been for the trail of bubbles that came from it.

So, after he was forced above the water thanks to the air bubble, he grabbed enough rocks to stuff his pant pockets before diving back into the water, swimming as quickly as he could into the cavern. When he found himself entering it, his attention was solely upon the majestic sight of a long, navy blue Gyarados who had curled itself to a perfect circle in its sleep. Its head was poking out of the circle, allowing Ash to see that its whiskers were a pale white to match the scales on the underside of its body. It was then that Ash realized that he could do something rather crazy instead of throwing rocks at the Pokemon in front of him, or stuffing its nose with them, not that he was considering it.

It popped in his mind when he saw that it was sleeping.

Yet now that the Pokemon was sleeping, he realized that he could do something that would most likely cost him a Pokeball, yet could very much be worth it. The chance to do it was very much worth it, and, if this sudden crazy idea of his failed, then he would have about a minute to swim up to the surface before it put two and two together before chasing him. Without anymore hesitation to hold him back, Ash swam forward with a Pokeball in hand and pressed it against the very tip of its whisker, watching as the Pokeball sucked the water serpent into itself. A soon as the device closed, he turned around and began to swim as quickly as he could, with the hand holding the Pokeball pointing the shaking device forward. He could feel it burn his hand slightly, yet held it as he began to rise up to the surface.

_'No!'_ He wanted to shout as the Pokeball broke in half, releasing the intangible form of the Gyarados above him. He quickly swam through the lower section of the intangible tail before swimming to the left, where he thought the back of the head would be. Instead, this turned out to be its right eye, which opened as soon as it became completely free, and focused on him as he put as much effort into reaching the shore.

"GAAAARRRAAA!" The surge of bubbles that came from the Gyarados helped him reach the surface faster than he could have on his own, which he was thankful for; however, he had little time to appreciate having more than a few breaths of air in his lungs as he rolled on the river rock to get away from the sudden tidal wave that displayed the mighty appearance of the Gyarados. It was in that moment that he remembered the full entry for the Pokemon that the Pokedex have him earlier with Misty.

"Gyarados; the Atrocious Pokemon. Rarely seen in the wild. Huge and vicious, it is capable of destroying entire cities in a rage. Capture of Pokemon is required for further information! Gender: Unknown. Height: Unknown: Attacks: Unknown." Fortunately for Ash, he wasn't fighting in the city, where it was easy to do massive damage due to how cluttered buildings and landmarks were. They were in the wild, which meant that he could properly escape if necessary, or hide to bide for time.

"CHHUUUU!" Was the mighty cry as Pikachu leaped from the tree, simultaneously releasing the Thundershock it was charging on the Gyarados that had no time to counter or fix the vertical angle of its body as the Electric attack arched downwards with Pikachu. The furious roar of pain that followed made Ash realize that he had to claim his jacket and constantly keep himself moving so the Gyarados wouldn't make him an easy target to focus upon. So, when Pikachu made contact with the ground, he jumped to his feet and ran for the tree, pulling his jacket off the branch before grabbing a large rock and threw it at the Gyarados.

This, along with Pikachu's attack, had successfully made the Water-Flying type VERY mad, for lack of a better term, and, in doing so, caused it to shoot itself towards Ash, who was three trees away from the main tree, and clenched the tree between its massive mouth, uprooting it without too much effort. Ash had to run in a zig-zag motion with his head constantly turned to see just when it would-

"DUCK!" Ash shouted to himself as he crouched down low enough for the tree to pass by him, yet that wasn't to say that he didn't feel the sudden air current that followed with such a throw. Gyarados must have had used most of its body to throw it at him, and it splashed a wave of water to the shore, hoping to make him trip up most likely. Instead, Ash jumped through a bush and began to run when he felt his gut starting to act up when he found himself a bit deeper in the forest. He was glad that he did, for he briefly saw the head of the Gyarados slam its head down on the bush, instantly crushing it without much damage done to its lower jaw.

What did cause plenty of damage was Pikachu suddenly jumping on top of the Gyarados' head and released a high-powered Thundershock. Ash was briefly worried that, even if this attack somehow knocked out the Gyarados, that it would have some form of brain damage thanks to Pikachu's surprise tactic, yet didn't question the effectiveness of such a move. It began to flail about on the ground, roaring in pain as its tailfin, which were still in the water, created waves with each impact that caused the shore to become submerged. When he realized that Gyarados widely opened its eyes with a crazed glimmer in them did Ash suddenly get a bit more focused on the battle itself and ran out of the forest with a stone already propelled to the Pokemon's head.

"Use Thunder Wave now Pikachu!" Bright, yellow arcs of lightning suddenly surrounded the long serpent, making it let loose a loud noise as its body laid limp on the shore. Pikachu, when he was done with his attack, jumped to the left of Gyarados' head, allowing Ash to stay on its right, which made the Pokemon keep its focus split between them in case it suddenly tried something. Still, he wasn't going to allow the Gyarados to try and perform something, and decided to enlarge a Pokeball and threw it between its head to ensure that the Pokeball makes contact.

The Pokeball fell straight to the ground, shaking madly like a Voltorb wanting to escape from a sealed bunker. The sight caused Pikachu to start charing electricity as a precaution, which Ash had a feeling would quickly become an overpowered Thundershock as soon as the Gyarados escaped, which could very well knock the water serpent unconscious. He was also shocked to see that no Pokemon were watching the battle, since some Pokemon enjoyed watching other breeds being challenged by humans if some of the documentaries he watched as a child told him, yet that wasn't important at the moment. What was important was that-

**SNAP**

"GYAAAAARRRAAAA!" The Pokeball broke in half, forcefully ejecting the Gyarados from the device with its eyes pinned on Pikachu, who released its Thundershock too soon. Ash knew that, thanks to the Pokeball making the Gyarados intangible for about twenty seconds to a minute for certain cases, that most of the power in that attack would be wasted on touching the shape of the energy beam rather than the actual Pokemon. So, when the Gyarados fully formed, it took less than half of the actual attack, making it able to withstand the attack to lean forward and tried to bite Pikachu.

The yellow mouse was able to run away by going right, but not without him being the victim of a sudden rush of air courtesy of Gyarados slamming its body on the ground, which had flung Ash a bit of distance away from the water serpent as well. He was lucky enough that the sudden blast of air hadn't sent his back to a tree, for he would have been unable to avoid being Gyarados food, yet he couldn't count his Torchic feathers yet (a saying he heard May and Max say from time to time), for he had to check on Pikachu's condition, and the large, bulky form of Gyarados prevented him from seeing.

That was, until it leaned up and launched itself at him, forcing him to run back into the forest and watched as it knocked down a pair of trees with the sudden impact of its head. Since it saw him not too far from itself, the Gyarados bit down on one of the trees in an attempt to throw it at him; however, the tree it threw merely knocked down a small bundle of threes. Five fully grown trees to be exact, which made Ash realize that the Gyarados could partially see him, and watched as it angled its body to the side so it could see him a bit better, and ran away from its level of perception.

It performed the same tactic it recently discovered would work for it best, which meant that Ash had to end this battle quickly before he found himself crushed under a tree or two. He heard the loud roar of Gyarados once more, and ran out of the forest to see that it fell to the ground with a surge of electrical arcs surrounding its form. Now if only Pikachu was, wait. Where was Pikachu?

"Pi-ka-CHU!" All Ash could see was a small white blur collide into the left side of Gyarados, making it stop roaring in pain momentarily before that white blur took on a ominous yellow glow that released a surge of electricity from itself. "PIKACHU!" Gyarados screamed in agony as electricity encased its body, making Ash pull out his second to last Pokeball and waited until Pikachu stopped with its attack to throw the Pokeball. The attack lasted for a full minute before the Electric mouse jumped away from the downed serpent, ending the attack within seconds of making contact with the ground. Without the electricity surrounding his starter, Ash was able to see just how tired Pikachu was, and quickly threw the Pokeball at Gyarados before grabbing Pikachu and held him close to his chest.

_'If Gyarados escapes this time, then I can just run around the area until Pikachu can use Thundershock a few more times. I won't need them to be fully charged ones, seeing as Gyarados is paralyzed, but with whatever that white blur technique was, it will be helpful for Pikachu to cover short distances quickly.'_ With that strategy approved for use, Ash realized that the ball had stopped shaking during his inner monologue, and that he was able to briefly see the red light upon the button of the Pokeball glow before shutting off, signaling a perfectly successful capture.

Signaling a perfectly successful capture.

A perfectly _successful capture_.

_Successful capture..._

**Capture...**

"We did it..." Ash muttered to himself in utter shock. He looked down to see Pikachu mirrored his own reaction with their eyes meeting. It was a minute of utter silence that allowed the realization to fully sink in, which both human and Pokemon jumped into the air cheering for the success of their first true catch together. For Pikachu it may have been due to him going up against a much more powerful evolved Pokemon, yet for Ash it was proof that he had truly awoke from the coma. He suddenly didn't care that Pikachu hadn't returned to him just yet, nor did he recall when tear began to flow from his eyes without any intention of stopping, but neither of those actions could measure up to the sudden sadness that swept through him.

This world was completely different than the one that he had grown to love in his coma. This world had much more fear and exciting possibilities, though the risk of death was more defined than the world inside his mind had constructed. He felt as if he couldn't trust others except for Professor Oak, his mom, Misty, and Pikachu, whereas in his coma he felt that most of the trainers and people he met had only good intentions to him. He only wanted to become the Pokemon Master, yet what did that truly entail when it came to dealing with Pokemon like Gyarados, especially with properly teaching new Trainers how to handle such situations.

No, he had realized that possibly becoming a Pokemon Master might not be his best path, yet had no idea about what _was_ his true purpose as a person in this new world. His whole purpose in the coma world was to become the very best, and that was a Pokemon Master, yet now he was gone from that world. Gone was the flame of passion for being a Pokemon Master, and in its place was sadness and guilt for trying to see if he was truly awake. As happy a he was, what if he had lost Pikachu? What if he had died?

"Ash?" Though it was but a soft whisper, Ash turned to see a partially dirty Misty who looked at him with widened, shocked eyes. She placed both hands over her mouth to hold back a gasp, he assumed, and suddenly felt all the emotions he felt for the Misty in the coma world rise like lava from a volcano, yet knew that they weren't the same girl. He knew he would some day have to get over her and move on, for it wouldn't be fair to the real Misty to love her as if she was her counterpart. He, as much as he didn't want to, couldn't stop himself from running up to her and wrapping his arms around her with his chin resting upon her shoulder. "Ash!"

"I'm awake!" He shouted, making her stiffen in his arms. "I had to make sure that I wasn't going to fall back into the coma world! I was traveling for three years Misty! three years of traveling with you and so many unique, different trainers, catching new Pokemon, battling new rivals at every turn, and yet I never completely succeeded my goals in that world! Now I have a chance to actually complete my goal, yet it isn't what I truly want!

"Do you...Do you, no, I don't think you can fully comprehend what happened right before I woke up today Misty. Three years Misty! Three **years** worth of friends, Pokemon, people **_died_** when I woke up, and all I have left of them are memories. _Memories!_ Memories that I've tried to ignore and bury away so I wouldn't constantly be comparing you with the Misty I grew up with, or my mom with what my coma helped create for me to keep the coma alive! I...I am happy to be awake, yet sad at what carnage I caused in order to be free!"

"So what!" Misty shouted, pulling herself away enough so Ash could see her face. Her eyes, though they were fixated as a glare, were becoming moist. "Do you think that everything would be okay with a blink of an eye or with a hug and a kiss?" She shook her head, sighing before looking at him once more. "Your mom and I are happy to have you back with us in the real world Ash! You have no idea as to how much your mom cried when she thought that you nearly died while you fought your coma, and so many doctors were trying to get her to sign you away like a vegetable when it was clear that you didn't want to stay in that coma!

"I can't say or do anything that will instantly make things better Ash. I'm a Water Gym Leader, not a Jirachi, but I will help you recover Ash. I promise you I will!" Misty suddenly pulled him into a hug, making him freeze in shock at the action. He was going to wrap his arms around her once more as the warmth of her touch made him feel better than he was without it, only for Pikachu to call out to them. This caused the two to pull away from another with a large blush upon both of their faces, as well as made them solely focus on Pikachu, who tilted its head back towards the river. Ash could breifly spot the Water type Pokemon spying on them, possibly wondering if they were going to be caught as well, and knew that they had to leave soon before the more excited Pokemon started launching Water Guns at them.

"Thanks Misty." Ash suddenly said, unknowingly causing her to smile as she wiped her eyes with her shirt.

"No problem Ash." Misty, he noticed, bent down to pick up the Pokeball that Pikachu rolled over to Ash. Her eyes seemed to focus on the seal of the Pokeball, for its puffed state meant that it indeed held a Pokemon within it, and she must have known what he was doing out here. "Is this...Is this what I think it is Ash?" Ash grabbed the Pokeball from her and pulled out his Pokedex, which remained dried despite him nearly being swallowed by a tidal wave at one point, and hovered it over the Pokeball itself. The results of the scan came up instantly.

**"Gyarados; the Atrocious Pokemon. Rarely seen in the wild. Huge and vicious, it is capable of destroying entire cities in a rage. _UPDATED INFORMATION!_ Level: 20! Gender: Female! Height: 25'09"! Attacks: Splash, Tackle, and Bite! Ability: Moxie!"** When he skimmed over some of the information the dex provided, he noticed that it had done some sort of battling with the wild Pokemon, for the Pokedex estimated that it could be close enough to gaining a level. He suddenly realized that, by the Pokedex's scans, the Gyarados was seriously low on health, and required immediate healing right away!

"Misty-"

"I know!" With that said, the two of them and Pikachu ran out of the forest through the path Misty took, hoping that the paralysis coupled with the Pokeball would keep the Gyarados stable enough until they reached the Pokemon Center. Despite all of the hell Ash would get for this stunt, he knew that he had done the right thing, and that without anything holding him back, he could now explore what this world had to offer with his nearly clean slate.

...What? He still wanted to beat Gary at winning the Pokemon League!

-Author Note-

Hello readers, reviewers, and followers! This is a special project I've been working on and off during my summer, as I wanted to wait until X and Y came out to see if anything was truly worth noting before I started typing out the finished product for these two chapters, and found that anything I found interesting could be included at a later date. So, with that said, I'm sure that plenty of you are confused, or possibly annoyed with my view point with the coma theory. I don't blame you at all, for you see, this was originally going to be two separate stories. This was the main project, where Ash wakes from his coma and essentially is living in the games, yet I found this to be a bit lacking, even if I was to play a hacked variation to lighten things up in terms of random choices.

The second story would have been called Keeping the Legacy Alive. Ash, in this story, is the great grandson of The Black Arachnid, the famed thief of Johto, and found this out due to a hidden floorboard that held the man's journal and the secret location to his stash of items. With them, Ash learns how to use the tools left behind, and, despite getting Pikachu, he is set on getting Meowth from Team Rocket, since he can tell that with a Meowth like that as his partner, that there would be no job too big for them to handle!

I, for the most part, combined the two since I can essentially make both dreams a reality since it all deals with the same character, though plenty has changed from the original plotline for both stories. So, instead of two stories, we have one where Ash wakes from his coma by realizing that the only reason he limited himself was since he didn't want to become ruthless like a thief, among other things, and finds out that he was in a coma for nearly a week. Feeling like he could still be trapped, he used the key fact of all Gyarados instinctively knowing Hyper Beam to face off against the Gyarados he saw in the river before being hooked out by Misty (which is something many people forget about), and makes catching it his test.

Now, I will say that I will balance out the game-to-anime events as much as possible, mostly since I do want to include a few that I certainly found to be interesting or beneficial to Ash in some way, especially since he is now partially without a goal. One thing I do wish to point out is the Pokeball beam, which I think had Ash partially swim through while the Pokeball he used broke. The reason I did this was to show that Pokemon, when released, are similar to a hologram in that state, at least in my opinion, so I could avoid having people think that, if Ash swam through another section of the phantom Pokemon, that it would be stuck inside it. What would have happened, at least to me, is that the sudden movement the Gyarados' appearance would make Ash move away.

I also thank Page for helping me out with some ideas for the story, so if you readers have any questions or concerns, please ask me in reviews and I'll answer them in the next chapter. I'll try to update this story a quickly as possible, but with Finals looming over for my college courses, I'm unsure as to how much time I can spare. So, until next time readers, stay golden!

-Ash's Team-

Pikachu: Level 11

Gyarados: Level 20


End file.
